3 Jul 21

After breakfast, I climbed the mast to check everything out; all good. Then, we hoisted the jib. After lunch, I spent the afternoon, working on the support for the new spotlight. All I have to do now is figure out how to wire it up. Along with the ah-oo-gah horn. Sigh. New stereo tuner installation tomorrow, between 4th of July parade and fireworks.

4 Jul 21

Despite my plans from last night, for some reason, this morning, I decided to pull all of the anchor chain out of the locker and inspect it; all good, but the paint marks for each 30-foot shot are just about worn off, so I re-painted them and renewed the cable-tie markers. Then, I spent a couple of hours installing the anchor-recovery system, which required a trip to West Marine to purchase a St.St. shackle to attach to the trip point. I also got the spare propane tank (now filled), the diesel gerry can and the shrimp trap lashed to the lee rail. Then, I washed down the deck again and got all the spots I missed the first time and filled up the forward water tank. And then, it was time for Captain’s hour, followed by our first cooked-on-board meal of this season. After we cleaned up, we set out new Helinox chairs out on the foredeck, wrapped up in blankets and watched the 4th of July fireworks display put on by the City of Anacortes; we had front row seats as they do the show from a barge anchored just outside the marina. The show did not start until 22:30, so, by the time they finished, we were a bit late to bed.

5 Jul 21

We slept late after last night’s festivities. After breakfast, I ran up to West Marine to get the parts to make a support for our stern line. I thought this little job might occupy me until lunch, but it took all day in the end; the delay was at least partially due to having to make two separate trips to Ace Marine to buy/replace tubing cutters (I managed to fail two blades during the process of making 5 cuts on 1” tubing. Anyway, it is done now. I also bought a 4 switch 12-V breaker panel, since the current panel is completely occupied and I need at least two new circuits to power my new horn and spotlight. I never did get to the stereo installation. I also water-proofed the dodger cover, started and ran the generator for 15 minutes and powered up the A-C/heater units to confirm that they are all working; all good on this front. The Admiral heard from nephew Jake that he will not be joining us in mid-July, so we are free to go anywhere. I think we will head south for a while anyway. We went to Island Cafe for dinner again. I think we will head to La Conner tomorrow, as soon as we collect our mail from Houston, which is due in by noon.